Clarence Dill

Clarence Dill

Clarence Cleveland Dill (September 21, 1884 – January 14, 1978) was an American politician from the state of Washington. He was a Democrat.

Dill was born in Knox County, Ohio. He attended Ohio Wesleyan University, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi.

As a young man he was a teacher, and moved to Spokane, Washington in 1908. He became a lawyer in 1910, and soon entered politics. He was a member of the United States House of Representatives for two terms, from 1915 to 1919, and was defeated for re-election. He was a member of the United States Senate from Washington for two terms, from 1923 to 1935 and did not run for re-election. In the Senate, Dill was the chief sponsor of both the 1927 Radio Act and the 1934 Communications Act. In 1936, Dill sought a divorce from his wife, the feminist suffragist Rosalie Gardiner Jones; Dill claimed that Jones told his friends that he was "a political coward" for not seeking re-election in 1934, and that she buried dogs and garbage in the backyard. He ran for governor of Washington in 1940 but was defeated by Republican Arthur B. Langlie. His last attempt at elective office was in 1942 when he ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives. Dill then served as a member of the Columbia Basin Commission from 1945 to 1948, and as a special assistant to the United States Attorney General from 1946 to 1953. In between all of these jobs, he usually practiced law. He died in Spokane. He was the last living Senator from before the Great Depression.